Bedea Pari
Santhal
At a glance
- Called a
- Pari
- Community
- Santhal
- Found in
- Jharkhand, West Bengal
About
Bedea, also written Bediya, is the twelfth of the Santhal paris, the totemic clans, and the last of the five junior paris. The old accounts say it was lost long ago, and Sarma and Mukherjee (2019) write that it is not found today. Its totem is given as the sheep. The Santhal are a Scheduled Tribe with their own religion, Sarna dharam. A pari is not a gotra, and the Santhal are not described here as a Hindu caste.
What “Pari” means for the Santhal
A pari (plural paris) is one of the twelve totemic clans of the Santhal. Each has a totem and a Santhal does not marry within their own pari. The old accounts describe the Bedea pari as lost.
Every pari of the Santal, with how the clan system works: the Santal page.
Name and Origin
The guru Kolean, whose account of Santhal tradition Skrefsrud recorded in 1871, names Bedea among the five paris added after the original seven and says it has been lost. Risley (1891) gives the story that the Bedea were left behind when the Santhal went up out of Champa. In that story the father of their first ancestor was not known, the pari was ranked lower for this, and it arose in the time of Mando Singh, when the Santhal had begun to meet Hindus; some Santhals told Risley the father was a Rajput and the mother a Kisku girl. Bonnerjea (1930) and Sarma and Mukherjee give the sheep as the totem, and so does Risley's list, with a question mark.
Historical Journey
In a version of the Champa story that Bodding gives from other gurus, the people who would not flee from Madho Sin, because they did not want to leave their cattle, made friends with him and gave him a daughter as his wife. They belonged to the Bedea Soren, and this is given as the reason they were lost to the Santhal. Bonnerjea (1930) still lists seven Bedea sub-clans, among them Manjhi-Khil, Naeke-Khil, Lath and Garh, while Bodding's dictionary notes that the lost Bedea pari is the only one with no Sada sub-clan on record. Sarma and Mukherjee write that the Bedea are believed to have merged with other paris. Risley wondered whether the Bedia of Chota Nagpur might be a branch of this lost pari, but gave nothing beyond the likeness of the names. The Bedia are a separate community, listed as a Scheduled Tribe in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
Stories and Legends
Left behind in Champa
In a story Bodding gives from other gurus, a king in Champa ordered his officer Madho Sin to take wives from the daughters of the leading Santhal men. Unwilling, the people set a day for the wedding, had carts made, and fled by night. Some would not leave their cattle and stayed, and gave Madho Sin a daughter. These, the story says, were the Bedea, who were lost to the Santhal from then on.